Funds should be used to boost bloc’s domestic defence industry over Kyiv’s needs, Paris believes

A coalition of EU nations has proposed making it easier for Ukraine to buy Storm Shadow cruise missiles Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Joe Barnes Brussels Correspondent

26 January 2026

France is opposing an effort to make it easier for Ukraine to buy British Storm Shadow missiles, The Telegraph can reveal.

A coalition of 11 EU capitals has proposed loosening the rules for Kyiv to use a €90bn (£78bn) loan to buy British weapons, but France wants the money to be spent within the EU.

The current plan for the loan – two-thirds of which will be used to buy weapons for Ukraine’s armed forces – foresees prioritising the European and Ukrainian defence industries before shopping overseas.

But Ukrainian defence officials have estimated that they will require €24bn of military equipment from outside the EU this year, according to documents seen by The Telegraph.

This figure is mainly for the provision of American-made Patriot air defence systems and PAC-3 interceptors, but long-range missiles have been identified as another requirement that European nations may not be able to provide.

European officials from the coalition have identified Britain’s Storm Shadow cruise missile as a potential option to plug the gap.

Storm Shadow missile

The RAF’s long-range cruise missile is armed with a specialist penetrating warhead designed to destroy hardened and buried targets from long range. It is made to be fitted to Western-made fighter jets but can be adapted for Soviet-era aircraft.

They are proposing a four-tiered system that could effectively put the UK in front of the US, should the country be able to fulfil Ukraine’s defensive needs.

However, France had emerged as an “obvious” opponent to the proposals, a diplomatic source said.

Paris is at the centre of efforts to make the EU strategically autonomous of its allies, mainly the US, because of ruptures with Donald Trump over his threats to seize Greenland.

It has argued that any funds donated to Ukraine should be used to boost the bloc’s domestic defence industry over Kyiv’s defensive needs.

This has led to internal complaints that the approach will impede Ukraine’s ability to defend itself, especially from Russia’s aerial bombardments.

Ukraine fires ‘UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles’ Ian_Matveev/X

Under the scheme, Ukrainian officials would submit purchase plans, which would then be reviewed against a set of criteria.

First, the EU would establish whether Ukraine’s domestic defence industry could fulfil the orders, before exploring the bloc’s own manufacturers for potential options.

Britain would sit on a third level of the cascading system, with the US on the fourth and final tier.

The coalition is focusing its efforts on relaxing the rules to make it easier for Ukraine to purchase from the third tier, which could also include Canada and other nations with defence deals with Brussels.

“We’re trying to do two things,” a diplomatic source told The Telegraph.

“One, make sure it’s open enough for the UK to comfortably be there. Two, make sure the administrative burden on Ukrainians to reach that layer of the cascade is not so hard.”

The latest attempt to prevent French influence is being championed by the Baltic and Scandinavian states, as well as Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Another eight countries, including Germany, have voiced support for a more favourable approach to Britain but have not officially joined the coalition.

One of the reasons Britain is being seen as a more favourable option is its leadership of the coalition of the willing, which is planning to deploy troops to Ukraine as part of any peace settlement.

With British troops set to be serving alongside their European counterparts, and American boots absent, investing EU funds in the UK is seen as an opportunity to boost security around the wider mission.

British diplomats are said to be in talks with representatives from the EU group, but are being encouraged to increase their outreach to the European Commission and European Parliament, where France has a strong presence in security-minded committees.